A Wolf Returns
by SWWoman
Summary: The sixth story in the Wolf series. Someone from Reese's past has returned with revenge on her heart and murder on her mind. Can Carter stop her before she destroys Reese and Finch?
1. Chapter 1

**Hi guys! Welcome to latest Wolf story. Please understand that this fic was mostly inspired by the episode "RAM", so it was mostly written before the season finale. Decima is still looking for Finch and Samaritan is not operational yet.**

**As usual I make no money from this. It's J. Nolan's sandbox, I'm just paying in it for fun, not profit. POI belongs to someone else (darn it!).**

* * *

**A Chance to Sleep**

John Reese tossed and turned, unable to sleep. He rolled onto his back and sighed, he knew this was going to happen when Joss was called into work on a late-night murder related to one of her cases. John never slept well when Joss wasn't with him. Somehow, without even trying, the loving, dynamic cop could chase away John's demons and allow him to sleep peacefully. When Joss was wrapped in his arms he could rest undisturbed by all the faces of all the people he had killed in his misguided service to his country. She brought him peace, a respite from the guilt that weighted heavily on his mind daily.

When his mate wasn't sharing his bed and John was left to his thoughts, they led to one nightmare after another. He had spent most of his adult life killing people, first as one of the Army's elite Rangers, and then as one of the CIA's best assassins. He was often haunted by the ghosts of the people whose lives he had ended prematurely. Some of them had deserved to die, but there were some that didn't deserve their fate, and those were the ones who visited him at night and reminded him just what a monster he was.

Tonight was no different. Tonight it was Shalima Mullah's turn to haunt his nightmares…

* * *

Summer 2009

Reese remembered the mission well; it was seared into his memory like a third degree burn, and it scarred him like one. It had sounded straight forward enough to begin with at the initial briefing. An Al Qaida cell was actively operating on the French Riviera, gathering money and weapons for some big strike against the US and it's allied interests. John, his partner Kara Stanton and their handler Mark Snow were tasked with taking them out before they could strike at those interests. Normally this was the kind of job John loved, preventing terrorists from harming innocent people. All John had ever wanted to do was protect good people from bad things and this looked like an open and shut case. He had actually been eager to work on the case, but he had forgotten a major tenant of his job: hings are never simple in the cloak and dagger world of the CIA.

They discovered the cell's main source of funding was the girlfriend of the cell's head guy, a bored rich kid and a distant cousin of the Saudi Royal family by the name of Shalima Mullah. She may even have been officially entitled to use the title of Princess, Reese was never really sure. She had been sheltered her whole life, as women in Saudi Arabia were, even more so than usual because of her family's high position in Saudi society. She was young, rich and naïve, a perfect trifecta of traits that made her ripe for exploitation Reese had wondered if her boyfriend really loved her as he claimed, or if he just needed her money to fund his jihad. If John had been a betting man, he would have put even money on the latter. Shalima had been completely unprepared for the big bad world, and the big bad world was about to chew her up and spit her out in the most horrible way possible.

The girl was looking for excitement, for an opportunity to break out of her gilded cage and taste life. John could have told her it wasn't worth it, to stay in her cage. If there was one thing his own life had taught him, excitement was overrated, but she probably wouldn't have listened. anyway Being the good CIA operative he was, he used her yearning for adventure and danger as a weapon. And one thing could be said for sure about Reese, he was lethal with weapons.

Shalima spotted Reese at an embassy function where he was dangled in front of her like a carrot. He was tall and handsome in his tuxedo, and she found his haunted blue eyes and hints of dangerous deeds done in far flung countries irresistible. She knew that he had seen and done many horrible things; and it excited her. She could hardly wait to take him to bed, all thoughts of her terrorist boyfriend forgotten. Reese was more than willing to take advantage of her eagerness to bed him and they left together in her chauffeured limousine. Reese fucked her senseless in the backseat before they reached her father's mansion.

Kara Stanton and Mark Snow listened to every moan, gasp and groan from their surveillance van that followed along behind the limo at a discreet distance. They happily congratulated themselves as their plan was set in motion.

Knowing that Kara was listening, Reese made sure he had the princess screaming in pleasure several times during the ride. Kara was a very possessive woman, and it always pissed her off when Reese had to fuck a target. Sometimes he didn't _have_ to fuck the target, but he would do it anyway, just to make her mad. It was usually the only way he could gain the upper hand in their sick relationship. He smiled as he visualized Kara fighting to keep her cool as she sat stoically next to Mark in the van. Then he made the girl scream some more.

As soon as he returned to their apartment, Kara was all over him, almost foaming at the mouth in her eagerness to reclaim her property. John smirked at her, but let her push him on the bed and let her climb on top. His cock was still moist from fucking Shalima, but Kara was too eager to reclaim her property to notice or care. She pounded herself onto him until they both came. It was a matter of pride to him that he made Kara scream as a loud as the princess had.

There was no love or even caring there, it was all about ownership. It was all about control.

The pattern replayed itself over the next several days; Reese would get together with Shalima, fuck her silly while she spilled all the secrets of the cell, including the member list and the location of their safe house, while Kara and Mark listened. Then Kara would fuck Reese possessively when he returned to their bed.

While Reese enjoyed temporarily having the upper hand in his relationship with the mercurial Kara, he was privately troubled by what he knew was going to be Shalima's inevitable fate. It became obvious to him that the girl was no terrorist. She was bored and lonely and had no idea how deadly dangerous and REAL this game was, she was only in it for the thrill. Both sides were using her as pawn, the terrorist cell for her money and the CIA for access to the cell. Despite her money and position, she was disposable to both; it was just a matter of which one would toss her aside first.

It all went down a week later; Reese had fucked enough intel out of Shalima that Mark felt it was time to take down the cell. The entire cell was meeting at their safe house that night and the three CIA operatives burst in, swiftly shooting the would-be terrorists before they even realized they were being raided. It was a textbook operation that Mark would brag about to his superiors for weeks afterwards.

As Reese was busy removing a hard drive from a computer whose owner lay dead at his feet, he heard a sob from the doorway of the room. He looked up and saw Kara standing there with a gun to Shalima's head. The girl was openly crying and begging for her life.

Kara smiled a predatory smile. "Hey Boy Scout. Look who I found hiding in a closet. I think she wet herself," she purred.

"John…" the girl sobbed in terror and reached for him, just as Kara pulled the trigger. Reese was careful to keep his face impassive while she slumped to the floor and lay still with blood pouring from the wound in her head, her sightless eyes still pleading with him even in death. Kara stood over the body looking triumphant.

"Nice shot," Reese said casually and went back to extracting the disk drive without giving any indication that watching the girl die bothered him in the least. But it did bother him, God help him, it did bother him to watch a naïve girl die because he was better at exploiting her than the other guy. She didn't deserve to die; at worst she should have gotten a spanking. But he kept his face neutral and focused on his work; like he always did, like the good soldier he was.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Kara's smile disappear as she realized she was not going to score a victory over him today.

"Kara, if you're done getting your jollies, it's time to look for evidence," Mark snapped at her. "Grab those files over there."

Kara shot Mark a dirty look, but did as she was told, as always. She was a good soldier too.

* * *

Present day

John's sensitive Wolf ears heard his daughter Cali fussing in her crib in her room next door, snapping him out of his fitful sleep. Groggily he dragged himself out of bed and glanced at the clock He noted that it was 2:37 am and Joss was still not home.

John padded into his baby's room and scooped her up, cradling her to his chest. She calmed down as soon as he touched her. "Can't sleep either?" he asked her as she stared up at him, furiously sucking on her pacifier. "I know, I miss mommy too."

He changed her diaper and warmed a bottle. She sucked it down greedily and gave her daddy a huge burp when he patted her back. She fell asleep almost immediately after and John was about to put her back in her crib when he hesitated. Then he turned and carried her into the master bedroom, and crawled into bed, settling her down on his chest. He fell asleep quickly, and no nightmares disturbed his slumber.

About an hour later, Joss tiptoed into the quiet apartment. She headed straight to the bedroom to change into pajamas before she checked on her kids. Despite her exhaustion, she stopped in the doorway and smiled in wonder when she realized that Cali was sleeping peacefully on her daddy's chest.

Joss put her hand over her mouth to stifle the giggle when she saw her child and her mate sleeping like, well, babies. Deciding that she was not going to disturb them, she silently slipped into the walk in closet and changed into a t-shirt and pajama bottoms. She then carefully slid into the bed without her family being aware of her presence. Neither one of them so much as twitched, they were both sleeping so soundly.

Joss turned on her side and watched John and Cali for a while. Then she closed her eyes and slipped off into sleep as she counted her blessings.

* * *

Mr. Greer got out of the limo and made his way over to the man who was waiting quietly for him in the darkened park. "Lambert," he greeted the man with a stiff nod.

"Boss," Lambert returned the nod. "What do you have for me?"

"The lady has finally been cleared to return to work. You are to assist her in any way you can."

Even in the dark, Greer could see his man make a sour face. "Is there something wrong, Mr. Lambert?" he asked smoothly.

"She's a psychopath, you know that," Lambert grumbled. He was a hard, cold man, but he was a professional through and through. He despised working with psychopaths; despite the fact his profession often required it. Psychopaths were often unprofessional and difficult to control or predict. "The lady" was one of the most unpredictable and needlessly vicious people he had ever worked with.

Greer glared at his employee. "She's _our_ psychopath, and she's determined to find Harold Finch. He may be the key to bringing Samaritan online. Do _not_ forget that."

Lambert shook his head, "I won't, but _she_ will. She wants this Finch character dead, after she tortures him, of course. I don't think she cares about Samaritan at all."

Greer stared ahead. He knew Lambert was right, but Decima needed this mission to go well, and the lady got results. "You'll just have to make sure she doesn't kill him, at least not until we are done with him. Her methods may be brutal and ham-fisted, but she got the results we asked for on her last mission. She broke into a secure top-secret DOD facility and uploaded the virus. I have no doubt she will come through for us again."

Lambert wrinkled his nose in distaste. "She nearly got herself blown to bits last time, too. She had to get cute with the bomb vests instead of going for a clean kill."

Greer sighed, Lambert was usually so professional and he was tired of arguing. "This is why I need you to work with her this time. You will have to make sure she does not, as you say, get 'cute' again."

Greer turned and walked back to his limo, signaling the end of the conversation. "Do not fail me, Mr. Lambert," he called over his shoulder.

Lambert watched glumly as the taillights of the limo disappeared. He was a good company man; he would do as he was asked. But he didn't have to like it.


	2. Chapter 2

**The Return of Kara**

Kara Stanton had never liked New York City; it held too many bad memories for her. The few times she had been here had been to kill people, which she enjoyed, but her last couple of missions had gone very wrong. Kara had very few failures in her long career, and New York only reminded her of those black marks on her record.

New York was no place for a Wolf like her; but she was back, not because she wanted to be here, but because she _had_ to be here. She had a few scores to settle and the people with whom she had to settle them were here. So she was back in this hell hole, behind enemy lines as she used to think of it. The city was dirty, it stank of urine and the denizens were rude, but she would endure it because she had a goal to achieve, and that goal was revenge. Kara was very goal-oriented.

So here she was, sitting on a bench in Central Park as she formulated her plans. Kara tore a small piece of bread off her sandwich and tossed it to a squirrel who was hungrily staring at her. The rodent snatched its prize and scurried off, flicking its bushy tail. A rare Wolfish smile flitted Kara's face. _At least someone's happy,_ she thought to herself.

Kara compared New York to her home city of Dallas. In Dallas people took the time to talk to each other. Life was slower, sweeter. Men held the door open for ladies and it was OK to be a patriot. Being in Dallas would've been nice, except for the fact that her family was there and she didn't like to think about them. She missed them too much when she thought about them. She accepted the fact it was no longer possible for her to be "one of them", but she still missed them.

Kara's family had run with a small pack, mostly made up of ex-military and proud of it. Kara's parents had raised her and her two brothers to channel their natural Wolf loyalty towards their country and to show no mercy to their enemies. Growing up with two older brothers in a family that thought mercy was for wimps had made Kara tough.

"You can be a predator, or you can be prey," they would tell her. "Which one are you?"

"I'm Wolf, I'm a predator," had always been her reply. And she swore she would live up to that motto, always.

In middle school, Kara had once gotten in a fist fight and had continued to beat the other girl long after her opponent had conceded defeat, dropped to the ground and curled into a ball with her arms over head. Kara had continued to kick the other girl until a teacher arrived and dragged Kara to the principal's office. Kara's parents had been called, but they were only interested in whether or not she had won the fight. No one had messed with Kara after that, but no one had really liked her either. The other kids were a little afraid of her vicious streak and she'd decided that she was OK with that. She was a predator and that was what mattered to her, even if it was rather lonely.

After high school, Kara, in a fit of patriotic fervor, had joined the Marines and discovered her true calling in life, killing the enemies of her beloved USA. She'd discovered that she liked killing people who needed killing. She liked taking orders and then carrying out those orders. She took great pride in being a good soldier. She took great pride in being a good predator.

The higher ups noticed and praised her skills and her ability to follow orders without hesitation or question. Then the CIA had come calling, and Kara had known it was time to move to the next level.

After a couple of years of rigorous training where she had earned the highest marks possible, she was matched with an experienced agent several years her senior named "Don Bates". He was handsome, suave and deadly. Their first assignment had been to kill a Pakistani official. Bates had accomplished this by setting up a fake checkpoint, stopping the man's car and spraying it with automatic gunfire, killing him and his unfortunate wife.

"Our orders didn't include killing the wife!" Kara challenged him later as they were cleaning their hotel room. She had not liked doing something that was not in their orders; it felt too close to going against orders.

Bates stopped what he was doing, grabbed Kara around the throat, and threw her against the wall. He held her there, nose to nose, his face barely inches from hers. His lip lifted in a sneer and his eyes were burning with an intensity that threatened to consume Kara with its fire. "Let's get one thing straight, little girlie," his voice was harsh and low. "You're not human anymore. You're the Dark and we don't leave witnesses behind." Then he had fucked her senseless against the wall and Kara discovered that post-homicide sex was the best sex of all.

Kara loved her new life. The same skills that served her so well in the Marines had made her a top assassin for the CIA, dispensing justice on enemies of the state outside the boundaries of the law. She wasn't just a predator anymore, she had moved beyond simple predation. Bates had been right, she _was_ the Dark, and she embraced her role with gusto. Instead of shooting people from a distance, she got to kill them up close and personal. She loved the look of shock on the target's face as they realized that they were about to die. She loved the feeling of power it gave her to hold someone's life in her well-manicured hands. And she loved the feeling of a job well done as she watched them die for their sins. And then once justice had been dispensed, she and Don could indulge their passion win other ways.

Love was out of the question for them but Kara was actually sad when Bates was killed two years after their twisted partnership began on a mission in Kurdish territory in Iran. It was a stupid way to die really; an enemy combatant that they had both thought was dead turned out to only wounded, and was able to shoot Bates in the back. The next couple of years saw her burn through several partners, but her love for her work had remained constant.

It had gotten even better when she had been matched with the man she named John Reese, another predator and a born Alpha. Reese was remarkably good at killing people, but he had never really enjoyed it the way Kara did. He wasn't the Dark; he had a rather annoying conscience that prevented him from completely giving himself over to the killing. Kara had tried to mold him into the Dark, but he had never embraced it like she did. However, he was another good soldier and he did his job without complaint even if his heart wasn't in it. He was reliable and a damned good shot.

And he had been very, very good in bed. They'd never had a problem relaxing after a tough mission.

Yes, Kara had loved her work. She had loved serving her country. She'd had a partner she could count on in the field and fuck when the mission was over. Life had been good and she couldn't have asked for anything more.

Then it had all gone to hell.

All because some asshole named Harold Finch had sold that damn laptop to the Chinese.

Kara had been more than willing to die for her country; she would have considered it an honor to have a star on the wall at Langley** like Bates did, even if no one would ever know her name. She'd known that someday she would die in the service of her country.

But she had never thought the fucking ungrateful country would repay her devotion and service by trying to murder her. One failed mission in her entire career and they'd tried to kill her for it.

She and Reese had worked together for slightly over four years, and in all that time they had only failed to complete one mission. That mission took place in New York. They were supposed to find Daniel Casey, some mousy hacker who had sensitive code on his laptop that he was apparently trying to sell to the Chinese. Their mission to was to kill Casey and retrieve his computer. But their briefing had been worthless crap and there had been some unknown third party who interrupted them at several crucial moments during the mission. What should have been a cut and dried mission lasting only a few hours had taken a couple of days and it hadn't been completely successful. Reese had killed Casey, but they had been unable to get the laptop thanks to that third party. The CIA was unforgiving. For their lone failure in four and half fucking years, she and Reese had been sent on a suicide mission, each ordered to kill the other and the survivor was to be blown up by a missile fired from a fighter jet, though neither of them had known it at the time.

She had shot Reese as ordered, but it hadn't been a kill shot. She had wanted to taunt him first for betraying her and their country, but he had told her he had the same orders, then had run off and left her when the missile was inbound. She had nearly been killed, saved only by the intervention of Mr. Greer and Decima.

That had been her reward for all her years of service and loyalty. That was her reward for leaving her family and pack behind and traipsing all over the world killing people.

In true predator style, Kara wanted revenge; someone had to pay for her country's betrayal. At first she had hoped to track down the person who gave the orders to have her and Reese kill each other, but Snow, that conniving weasel, had told her that he'd gotten his orders from Alicia Corwin, and Corwin was dead. Corwin's boss Denton Weeks was also dead, and so was Week's boss the Special Counsel. Frustrated, Kara was forced to admit that she would never find out who on that unholy food chain had given the kill order. All she had now was the name of the traitor that sold the laptop, and she focused all her considerable hate and rage at Harold Finch for ruining her happy little life.

But Harold Finch didn't exist. He was a ghost. Decima had tried to find him, but he didn't exist on any computer database. He owed no property, had no job, paid no taxes, had no bank accounts or even a driver's license. All anyone knew was that someone using the name Harold Finch had sold the laptop to Chinese agents one foggy night on a deserted road in the middle of nowhere.

That's why she needed her ex-partner John Reese. Every good agent cultivated a network of informants and handy associates. Reese had been in NY for several years and, despite his annoying morals, he was a very, very good agent. She had a feeling he would know who Harold Finch was, or knew someone who knew who Harold Finch was. Without him, she was flying blind and she didn't have the time or the patience to establish her own set of informants.

Unfortunately, things had not gone well for Kara last time she had tried to force Reese to work with her. Kara touched the eye patch that covered the hole that used to be her left eye and part of her cheek. She had been lucky to survive the explosion that had sent Mark Snow on his richly deserved one-way trip to hell. She had lunged out of the car as soon as she realized that Snow, wrapped in his bomb vest, was sitting in the back seat, but time had run out before she had gotten more than a few feet away and the shrapnel had been devastating. She had lost her left eye and part of the cheek. A huge chunk had been ripped from her left thigh, damaging muscle and tendon, giving her a limp.

But make no mistake; Kara Stanton was just a lethal as ever. She still had all her training and experience. The loss of her left eye had not affected her ability to shoot straight and accurately and she was still willing, if not eager, to torture and kill. And the need for revenge burned hotly in her dark heart, giving her an extra shot of motivation.

She was still a predator. She was still the Dark. She never wanted to be anything else.

* * *

**When a CIA employee is killed in the line of duty, a black star is carved into the memorial wall at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. As of this writing, there are 107 stars, only 80 of which have names listed in the Book of Honor that sits in a case below the stars. Some employees remain anonymous, even in death. I suspect that had Stanton or Reese died in the line of duty, their names would not be listed. Wikipedia has a nice article on the wall with a picture, look up _CIA Memorial Wall_.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chasing Carter**

Kara Stanton watched the front door of the 8th precinct the way a cat watches a gopher hole. The late, unlamented Mark Snow had led Kara straight to Detective Joss Carter last time she had been in New York. Thanks to the cowardly weasel, Kara knew that Carter was the only known associate of John Reese, and the only known avenue to find the elusive ex-op.

John Reese, her former partner and lover. The man had been in New York for several years acting as some sort of do-gooder vigilante. Snow hadn't known exactly what John's deal was, all he knew was that John somehow found people in trouble and saved them. Snow didn't know how John found those people or if he was working with anyone other than Carter, though he suspected there were at least a few other people. Reese's little crusade also appeared to be very well-funded, but the source of that funding was a mystery as well. Even with all the resources at the CIA's disposal, Mark had been unable to find Reese and eliminate him. Snow's dogged pursuit hadn't even put a dent in Reese's do-gooder activities, if the papers and their stories of "The Man in the Suit" could be believed.

Kara sneered as she thought about it; that sounded like the overgrown Boy Scout she used to know. He never embraced the Dark even as he became part of it. She snorted to herself as she thought of Reese trying to atone for his sins by playing Batman-in-a-suit. Kara knew there was no redemption for people like them, and frankly she didn't care. She wasn't interested even if there was.

As Kara sat in her car across the street from the 8th precinct, waiting for Detective Carter to end her shift, she spent her time mentally reviewing everything she knew about the woman Snow had told her was the only known friend and ally of John Reese. One of Lambert's men was an accomplished hacker who had obtained a copy of Carter's NYPD and Army personnel files for her, so she had a considerable amount of information at her disposal. Everything except Carter's address, for some reason she used a PO box in one of those UPS stores as her address. Kara sighed, given all the corruption in the NYPD, that was probably just Carter being careful.

Kara knew that Carter was married with two children, one of whom must only be a few months old since she had recently returned to work from maternity leave. The other ankle-biter was listed in her Army file so he had to be quite a bit older. She was listed as Wolf in her police file, but not her Army file meaning she had probably been turned rather than born into the pack. Kara didn't waste much time wondering just why Carter had allowed herself to be turned, Carter seemed to be the right type for turning. A lot of people turned voluntarily were cops and fireman seeking the Wolf's strength to better "serve and protect" like some fucking Lassie dog. Wolves were predators, not some damned collie with a savior complex.

Carter's evaluations were invariably noted that she was brave to the point of recklessness and very smart. She had been an interrogator in the Army, with an impressive record of being able to crack even the toughest cases. She was tenacious and fiercely loyal to her friends and colleagues. These where all qualities that Kara could appreciate and admire, but she wasn't about to ask the woman out for a Girl's Night. Carter had a lot of drawbacks to her as well.

Carter was often rigid and inflexible; insisting that procedures be followed to the letter and she had little tolerance for colleagues who stepped outside of the boundaries of the law. Kara snorted when she had read that last part; it appeared that Carter had a stick up her ass the size of a redwood tree. How she ever became entangled with the roguish Reese was beyond Kara's understanding.

However, Kara did notice that the comments on Carter's inflexibility had ceased in the past couple of years. It seemed Reese had corrupted yet another woman with those baby blues of his. While Reese was hardly a Lothario, during their years together he had used his good looks to seduce and extract information from numerous women while Kara listened to every gasp and moan on the other end of the bugs she and Reese had planted. Kara chortled to herself as she conjured up a picture in her mind of the staid and boring detective being seduced by the handsome assassin. Kara was even willing to bet that Reese had convinced the little goody-two-shoes he cared for her. The thought made her smile with glee. She amused herself by wondering if Carter liked it rough or stuck with the missionary position.

Kara sat up and prepared to pull out when she saw Detective Carter walk out the front door of the precinct with a pudgy, rumpled looking man Kara knew to be her partner, Detective Fusco. The two walked around the building to the parking lot at the side and paused for a minute by Carter's car to have a short conversation. Kara wasn't close enough to hear it, but it looked like they were saying good night. With a smile and a wave, Pudgy got in the car a few places down from Carter's as Jocelyn got into her own car, returning his smile with her own.

Kara started her vehicle just in time to follow Carter as she pulled into traffic. Kara followed a few cars behind.

Kara followed at a discreet distance for several blocks until Carter parked by a grocery store and went inside. Kara parked down the street where she could keep an eye on Carter's vehicle. Carter came out about thirty minutes later with a couple of bags and got back into the car. Kara grinned a Wolfish grin, Carter gave no indication she had spotted Kara.

Carter once again started her vehicle and pulled back into traffic. She drove leisurely towards downtown with Kara maintaining a two car distance behind her. Just as Kara was beginning to wonder where the heck they were going, the light in front of her suddenly turned red. The car in front of Kara slammed on its brakes as Carter sailed through the intersection just barely in time.

_Shit! That was a short yellow!_ Kara thought as she had to slam on her brakes to avoid hitting the car in front of her. Kara continued to swear as she watched Carter proceed through the next light down the block, which was green, and then turned the corner so that she was out of sight when the light in front of Kara finally turned green and allowed her to move.

"Lucky bitch," Kara hissed in frustration. It had been a long time since anyone lost Kara that easily.

* * *

"Thanks Harold!" Jocelyn Carter sighed in relief. "I lost my tail."

"Happy to help," Harold Finch said. "Did you know who was following you?"

"Nope, I didn't get a good look at them," Carter said as she negotiated a turn. She sighed, "It could be anyone, The Russians, the FBI, the CIA, some other enemy of mine or John's. It's a long list."

"I have my chess game with Elias tomorrow; I'll ask him if he knows about any contracts out on you or John. I hesitate to ask, but are you sure they were following you?" Finch asked with some concern.

Carter nodded even though Finch could not see her. "She followed me to the grocery store and waited outside while I was shopping."

"That does sound definitive. Please be careful and don't hesitate to contact me if you require further assistance."

"Thanks again Harold. My tail is clear now so I'm going home. Good night."

"Good night, Detective." Harold Finch disconnected the call and closed the stoplight app on his phone. He put his phone back in his pocket and went back to watching Bear romp with a lovely Afghan hound from his seat on a bench in the dog park.

* * *

"Hungry?" Lambert asked as he deposited a bag full of takeout on the counter of the Decima safe house.

"Starving," Kara snapped with ill humor as she dug in the bag for a spring roll. New York may suck but it did have good food.

"Failure makes you hungry," Lambert commented with a smirk as Kara found the spring roll and eagerly started munching on it.

Kara stopped in mid bite to glower at her companion. "I told you she got lucky with the stop lights. She didn't see me."

"Just keep telling yourself that," Lambert sniffed. He did enjoy provoking the temperamental Kara.

"Keep it up and I'll show you how many ways I know to torture someone, Lambert," she snarled.

Lambert snorted. "Charming. Now I know why you had to put bomb vests on your former colleagues to get them to cooperate last time. I wonder how this man Reese managed to work with you for over four years without putting a bullet in your back when he had the chance."

Kara glared at him. "He was a good soldier and did what he was told, unlike some people I could name."

Lambert just grinned at her. "Oh I understand the concept of being a good soldier; you're not the only professional here, my dear. I just can't believe he passed up a chance to shoot you under orders."

"You know what else he was good at? Keeping his mouth shut." Kara stroked the knife in her hand while she eyed her antagonist in one of the coldest, calculating stares Lambert had ever seen.

Lambert decided that he had poked the beast enough for now. He would continue this later when they had Harold Finch and he could kill Kara without compromising the mission. He was looking forward to it.

* * *

After several more failed attempts to follow Carter, Kara grudgingly had to concede that the detective was a pro at spotting a tail. She guessed that Reese had been training his little pet; Carter was far too elusive for a mere cop. This only made Kara want to break through all Reese's layers of security and find him all the more. She was going to WIN this little game, dammit. It was personal now.

Kara had to call on Lambert and all of his available men before she finally found out where Carter lived. They tag teamed the surveillance with each car only following Carter a short distance before another car took over. Even then it proved difficult, Carter remained cagey and often made sudden and unexpected turns and varied her route. Kara grudgingly gave the elusive detective credit, John had taught her well, and she was smart. Even Lambert was starting to get angry at their lack of progress.

They finally got lucky one evening as Carter was on her way home and one of her sudden turns that was meant to shake anyone on her tail actually brought her right into the path of one of Lambert's men. Confident that she had lost anyone that might be following her, Carter had driven home, which turned out to be a former factory complex turned high-security luxury apartments.

Kara was so pleased that they had finally found Carter's home she gave the man a large cash bonus, even though she knew it was luck, not skill, which brought him there.

She dismissed the man and began looking the apartments over. On the outside they looked like the former industrial buildings they were. They were solid concrete with little ornamentation. They looked very stark and industrial.

Kara frowned as she parked across the street and looked at the buildings where the detective made her home. Something wasn't right here, these converted buildings were in a nice neighborhood, and converted buildings in nice neighborhoods usually meant expensive high-end apartments. Kara was a bit perplexed as to how Carter could afford to live there on a cop's salary, but then remembered that she was married_. John's little pet must have caught herself a millionaire_, Kara thought and made a mental note to find out who her husband was and what he did.

* * *

"You're not going to wear that?" Joss crossed her arms and lifted an eyebrow at her mate.

John, caught completely off guard, blinked back at her in surprise. He looked down at himself and then back at her, his eyes showing his confusion at her question. "Um, what's wrong with what I'm wearing?"

Joss sighed as her eyes traveled down his lean body. He was wearing a black button down shirt, black jeans and black motorcycle boots. "John, baby, you're going to a picnic in the park with your family. Aren't you a little old to be doing the emo hipster thing?"

John looked his mate over. She was wearing a light blue ribbed tank top that hugged her figure perfectly and made his mouth water if he looked at her too long. She was also wearing a long, flowing skirt in a paisley print in shades of yellow, blue and green, and sandals with straps decorated with colorful beadwork on her feet. Their daughter Cali Alexis was dressed in a pale pink sundress with a matching headband with a huge flower in her thick, wavy black hair. John was forced to concede he looked like a walking black hole next to his ladies.

With a mumbled "I'll be right back," he hurried off to the bedroom to change into something more appropriate. A few minutes later he emerged from the bedroom wearing sneakers instead of the boots and a blue polo shirt that made his eyes look so intensely blue that Joss made a mental note to jump his bones as soon as they got home from the park and put Cali down for a nap.

"Better?" he asked giving her his best mischievous grin as he held out his arms and turned slowly in a circle for inspection.

Joss's eyes went straight to his rear end which ,by the way, looked fabulous in those jeans._ Yup_, Joss thought_. Definitely jumping him as soon as we get home_. Joss handed over their daughter. "Much better," she said with an approving smile. "Let's go."

* * *

Kara sat in her car parked a short distance down the street from the complex where she now knew Carter lived, using a pair of high powered binoculars to watch the entrance. Kara had Lambert's pet hacker break into the timecard system of the NYPD and get Carter's schedule, so she knew today was Carter's day off. When She'd had Snow in a bomb vest, he had told her he suspected that Carter spent a lot of her off time working with Reese. Kara planned to spend the day following Carter, hoping she would met with Reese at some point.

Kara sat up as she saw Carter walking out of the complex pushing a baby stroller with a cooler in the seat and walking with a man carrying a baby around eight months old. Kara grunted in annoyance, it looked like Carter was planning on spending the day with her family rather than her vigilante do-gooder.

Then Kara's remaining eye opened wide as she realized the man with Carter was John Reese. He was wearing jeans, a polo shirt, sunglasses and a baseball cap pulled low over his forehead, but it was definitely him. Kara would recognize that long graceful stride anywhere.

Kara's eye nearly popped out of her head as Reese kissed the child on her round little cheek. The baby laughed and tried to remove his sunglasses while Carter giggled. Kara adjusted the focus of her binoculars - she zoomed in tight on Carter and raised her lips in the ugliest of snarls as she realized she could plainly see a mating scar at the junction of Carter's neck and shoulder. Previously, that scar had been hidden by Carter's work suits so Kara had never noticed it before. She couldn't see one on Reese thanks to the collar of his polo shirt, but there was no doubt in her mind that he had one too as she watched the happy couple stroll along the sidewalk.

The cop and the killer, the Light and the Dark, were in love and making babies. Kara had hoped that Carter would lead her to Reese, but she had not expected _this_. It was almost too good.

Kara followed at a discreet distance, observing the happy couple as they walked to the nearby park.

The couple walked out onto a wide grassy area and parked the stroller. Carter spread out a blanket and Reese lay on his back holding the baby up in the air making airplane noises and swooping her around. The child laughed and kicked happily while Carter watched, smiling. Then she started pulling food out of the cooler. John set the child down and sat up, accepting a plate of food from his companion giving her a slow loving kiss in the process that nearly made Kara gag. Reese gave his spawn a couple of potato chips off his plate then the happy family settled down to eat.

Kara, hidden in some bushes a distance off watched carefully through her binoculars. "Well, well, well, the boy scout found himself a girl scout and they started making little scouts," she purred. She was delighted to see that her former partner had built himself a good life; it would make destroying that life that much more rewarding and that much more effective.

She was happy she now had leverage against him. He had been quite recalcitrant last time she had recruited him to help her seek her revenge; but this time he had something more precious than his own life to lose. Kara was going to use his family against him, just as her CIA masters had taught her to do.

* * *

Joss, oblivious to the danger she and her family were in, was having a wonderful day. It was a lovely warm late spring day, and she had a rare day off that coincided with one of John's rare days off. She kicked off her sandals and wiggled her toes in the sun, enjoying the feel of the warmth on her skin. She stretched out on her stomach, propped her chin on her hands, and kicked her feet up in the air. She watched happily as Cali crawled off with John following along behind to make sure she didn't stuff anything in her mouth that didn't belong there.

Joss pulled out her phone and took a picture of Cali crawling across the lawn with John crawling behind her. John looked over at her and despite his mirrored sunglasses; she knew he was glaring at her. "You just took a picture and sent it to Lionel, didn't you?" he growled.

Joss giggled. "Yup," she said, completely unrepentant. Just then her phone buzzed with a text message and she laughed out loud when she saw Lionel's reply, _I always knew a woman would drive him to his knees_.

Cali picked up a leaf from the lawn and sat down heavily to examine it with an intense frown of concentration on her little face. John knelt next to her, smiling. Cali turned the leaf over, traced a vein with her tiny finger, and then made a move to stuff it in her mouth.

John, laughing, gently took it from her. "No sweetie, that's not very tasty, trust me." He shuddered, remembering his survival training, while Joss put her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing too loudly at the expression on her mate's face. She was unsuccessful and John shot her a look, trying to look severe, but he failed as a smile slowly crept across his face, and they wound up laughing together.

_Today is very good day_ Joss thought as Cali took off crawling again with John in hot pursuit.


	4. Chapter 4

**Before I go any further, I have been remiss in not thanking my awesome beta for this fic, nicdvidmaker. Thanks nic!**

* * *

**Hunting **

One aspect of being a CIA field agent that Kara had particularly enjoyed was breaking people. When she had the power of life or death over another human being she experienced a rush of euphoria similar to an orgasm. She felt truly alive when she held someone's life in her hands. Causing another person pain, knowing that she owned them thrilled her; it was electric. Knowing that the person was afraid of her made her feel strong and alive.

Kara was determined to break Reese's spirit and bend him to her will. She wanted to own Reese once again like she had owned him in the CIA, and to do that she needed to come into his home and steal his family away right out from under his nose. She wanted to see the pain in his eyes when he saw that she held his families' lives in the palm of her hand. She wanted to break his stoic exterior and see him beg her for their lives. She knew he would do anything to keep them alive, even take orders from her. She would use John and his resources to hunt down Harold Finch, and when Harold Finch had been found, she would see him cry in agony when she killed his precious mate and child in front of him. Then she would kill him, because the Dark didn't leave witnesses behind. The fact that she would enjoy every step in the process was a lovely bonus.

The one thing Kara would not, and could not, admit to herself was that she was angry John Reese had taken a mate, a mate who wasn't her. Kara had never dared to admit to herself that she was attracted to the big Boy Scout; she knew that someday she may have to retire him with extreme prejudice, so actually caring for him was out of the question; at least, that's what she had told herself.

She recalled the first time she saw him, tall and handsome in his tux, even with his bow tie slightly askew(*1). One look was all it took for her to know this one was a keeper. She had, of course, already read his file before she ever laid eyes on him; he was one of the best snipers in the Army with an impressive number of kills. He was inhumanly cool under fire and unparalleled in hand to hand combat. As far as Kara was concerned, he was perfect except for one thing: he never really embraced the Dark or, more importantly, her.

Oh they fucked each other, but they never made love. Reese never showed her one single ounce of affection that wasn't necessary for their cover for the mission, and Kara hated herself because she yearned for his touch.

**Paris, 2009**(*2).

Kara and John sat quietly in a bar, watching their latest targets, a youngish attractive couple happily making lovey eyes and nuzzling each other in the corner. "What did they do?" John asked as his eyes traveled to them and then back to Kara as she slowly sipped her champagne.

"Who cares? Orders are orders." That was her standard reply when Reese showed the slightest bit of curiosity in their targets. They had been working together for three years by then and Kara had been quite frankly tired of Reese, The Boy Scout.

Reese picked up his glass of champagne and regarded her steadily. "Just making sure we have the right targets. They just look like two people in love."

"Maybe they are. Or maybe they are just better at playing their cover than you. Would it kill you to kiss a girl once in a while?" Kara teased him, but there was an undercurrent of longing in her teasing that the emotionally shutdown Reese did not catch.

Kara had seen it then. Reese's eyes flickered briefly to her face and then away, but in that split second she had seen the disgust on his face and then his impassive mask was back in place. It cut her to the core.

**Present Day**

Kara always known that Reese was not really cold and emotionless, his eyes had given him away too often, but she had also known the emotions Reese kept tightly bottled up inside of him were not for her, he had reserved them for someone else entirely. In Kara's view that someone, Reese's milquetoast ex-girlfriend, had been undeserving of the affections of a predator and it pissed her off. She had known that as he was fucking her into the mattress he was thinking of that gutless bimbo and she had hated the fact that it bothered her.

Now Reese was canoodling with Carter and they had made a child together. With anger burning hot in Kara's chest, she recalled all those times she tried to cajole him to kiss her, only to have him give her that same brief but disgusted look; and now he was freely laying tender, loving kisses on someone else. She was going to destroy Reese _and _Carter. She was looking forward to it.

The problem was that her former partner had wrapped his family in a cocoon of security that would make Fort Knox jealous. Reese had learned his lessons well during their time in the CIA, and he had pulled out all the stops to protect his most precious of assets, his mate and his children.

Reese had apparently trained his family in the art of spotting and losing someone who might be following them. _I should have known when Carter turned out to be so damn slippery_, Kara thought to herself in frustration. Reese had taught his mate well. Even the teenaged boy who was Carter's son by her first marriage turned out to be a pro at losing a tail. The few times Kara had tried to follow him; he had vanished into the vast crowd on the subway like a ghost.

Kara was further stymied by the apartment complex itself. Despite its pedestrian industrial past, whoever had converted the buildings into high security apartments had done a top notch job. The complex consisted of three buildings, each four stories tall and arranged in a U shape, with a beautifully landscaped courtyard in the center. The residents of the building apparently had a secure parking garage under the buildings while there was a small visitor's parking lot off to one side. The lobbies of the buildings were quite luxurious looking with high end wood paneling and mosaic tiles depicting various species of birds, but the security was the best she had seen in a long time. Access to the stairs and the elevator were controlled by card readers and key pads requiring access codes be punched in before the doors would even open. There where security cameras sweeping the lobby and Kara noticed they covered every inch of the place, there were no dead zones to hide in.

In addition to the excellent security camera coverage in the lobbies, she noticed that the outside of the building was heavily covered with surveillance cameras as well. Initially she didn't think too much of it. Security guards, in her experience, were poorly trained and lazy, so she thought no one would notice her casually loitering by the buildings. But after she had tarried too long in the visitor's parking lot, a NYPD officer who didn't even look old enough to shave by the name of Laskey, pulled up behind her and questioned her politely but firmly. After that she was forced to wait out on the street down the block in a dead spot that was in between cameras while she staked out the buildings.

_What kind of paranoid freak designed this place?_ Kara grumbled to herself. She had no way of knowing that the Carter/Reese family had nicknamed the place The Bunker, but she would have found the name appropriate if she had.

She even tried entering the buildings while posing as a courier for the DA's office. She had approached the building supervisor as he worked on the courtyard, tenderly pruning the roses that seemed to be his pride and joy.

"Hello," she had approached the man with a smile. "Your roses are gorgeous!" Kara knew the best way to ingratiate yourself with someone was to compliment them or their work. It was a technique she had used many times and almost never failed her.

It looked like it was working this time. The man stood up with a big friendly smile on his face as he adjusted the glasses on his face. "Thank you! I'm so glad to meet another flower lover! Name's Trask, Ernie Trask. How can I help you?"

Kara beamed at him; this was going to be easy. "I'm with the DA's office and I have some paperwork for Detective Carter…"

Kara paused as she saw Trask's friendly demeanor vanish as soon as she said Carter's name. Trask's eyes narrowed with suspicion and he immediately became brisk and business like. "There's no one in the complex with that name," he stated flatly and firmly.

Kara acted shocked, "But they told me at the DA's office that she lived here..."

"You were told wrong," Trask firmly interrupted. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave now," he said quietly as he fingered the pruning shears in his hand.

Kara set her mouth in a tight line. While she knew she could take Trask out, he looked like a man who would put up quite a fight. (She had no way of knowing that the man in front of her had survived a hit by the Cuban Mafia before he had been placed in the witness protection program.*3) She didn't want to alert John to the fact that she was looking for him by causing a scene and killing his building super, at least not yet. She would have to find another way in and kill Trask later.

"Oh, I'm so sorry to have bothered you!" she said sweetly. "There must have been a mistake down at the office. Thanks for your help!" She turned and walked unhurriedly away, even though she felt Trask's eyes boring into her back like drill bits.

Kara sat in her car and gritted her teeth as she thought about the encounter. This was turning out to be a lot harder than she had thought it would be.

Her next move was to break into the city building inspector's offices in the dead of night and steal copies of the blue prints for the buildings. Once again, John had apparently anticipated this and the only blueprints on file were very old and out of date ones from the buildings' factory days. Despite the fact that renovations on those building had to have been a high profile and expensive project, even Lambert's talented hacker could find nothing on it in the city's databases, as if all the data had been expertly scrubbed clean. No records of any permits, no fees paid, no building inspection. As far as the city's various computer databases were concerned, time had stopped at the former factory complex around 1980.

Kara decided that since she couldn't get into the building to case it, she would have to attack from the outside. However in order to do that, she would have to determine which building and which apartment was Reese's and Kara couldn't even figure out which building the Reese family lived in, much less which apartment. They were very savvy about using the entrances and exits to all three buildings. Kara surmised they used the underground parking garage to move from building to building. Clever of them, there was no way for her to determine which of the buildings they actually lived in.

"Just snatch them off the street," Lambert had snarled in frustration one evening. "This obsession you have with breaching your ex-partners security is costing us valuable time!"

Kara held her ground, "You don't know John Reese like I do. I trained him, I _made_ him. If we're going to break him, we have to strike at his security. If we don't break him, he won't cooperate."

Lambert glared at her. "Greer is getting impatient. When Greer gets impatient, people start dying."

Kara returned his glare with one of her own. "I'm getting irritated with you Lambert, and when I get irritated, people get tortured and _then_ they die."

Lambert rolled his eyes. "Your threats don't scare me, so save it. If we don't show progress in the next few days, Greer is sending replacements. For _both_ of us."

* * *

The next day found Kara glumly watching John and the teenager in the park playing with a dog. An ex-military dog, Kara judged by the Dutch commands the man and the boy used with the beast_. Jesus, even John's pets are lethal,_ Kara thought as she watched the happy scene from her hiding place.

Suddenly John stopped chasing the teen and the dog and stood still, he put his hand up to his ear, tapped an earpiece that Kara had not noticed until now, and listened for a few minutes. Kara was too far away to hear his reply, but she could read lips well enough to know he said _I'm on my way_. John then tapped his earpiece one more time, and called to the teen and dog. He handed the leash over to the kid, and said something to him. Kara saw the kid nod and then John walked rapidly away. The teen snapped the leash onto the dog's collar and began walking in the direction of the apartment a few blocks away.

A light bulb went off in Kara's head and she scrambled to beat the teen to the park entrance. She made it just in time so that she was able to stage a meeting like she was just entering the park as the kid and the dog were exiting.

Kara approached the boy and the dog. "What a beautiful dog!" she exclaimed as she held out her hand for the animal to sniff. "Belgian Malinois, right?"

The teen nodded proudly, "Yeah. He's fully trained."

"Is he yours?" Kara asked as she reached out to pet the animal. The dog shied away from her touch, but not before she got in a pat or two on the neck.

"He belongs to my step-dad," the boy explained as he watched the dog try to avoid Kara's hand with a frown.

"Well you're lucky he's very sweet. See you around." Kara chirped pleasantly and hurried on. She glanced over her shoulder and smiled wolfishly as she saw the kid and dog head off in the direction of the apartment complex. She took out her phone and punched up the GPS app, activating the tracking device she had planted under the animal's collar, and began following the kid at a discrete distance.

Kara watched in triumph as the tracker entered the building on the left, and moved through the parking garage to the middle building in the complex. The tracker began to rise like it was in an elevator until it was on the top floor, where it settled in what was roughly the southwest corner.

"Gotcha!" she purred with delight.

She punched the first preset on her phone, "Lambert, I need a helicopter."

* * *

At that moment, Harold called John. "John, the Machine just gave me your number."

There was no hitch in John's stride as he continued walking through the crowded New York streets. "What else is new Harold? Someone tries to kill me just about every day." He actually sounded amused.

Harold remained calm and simply asked, "What about Joss and your children?"

That brought Reese up short. Whatever this threat was, he had to make sure they were not collateral damage. "Where are they?" he asked quietly.

Harold punched a few keys. "Everyone is at home."

John relaxed. "They should be safe there. I'll keep following our number and keep my eye out for threats."

Harold sighed, "If you are going to insist on working this case, I'll have Shaw pick up Bear and meet you there. I don't want you out there without someone to cover your back."

John smirked at Harold's show of concern. How far they had come from those first days full of mistrust and suspicion right after he had agreed to work for Harold. He decided to humor his employer. "Alright Finch if it will make you feel better."

* * *

*1: Kara and John's first meeting was in flashbacks in the episode _Foe_. And yes if you look closely, Reese's tie isn't perfectly straight.

*2: We saw this mission in a flashback in _Prisoner's Dilemma._

*3: Finch details Ernie Trask's travails with the Cuban Mafia in the episode _Super_


	5. Chapter 5

**Kara Strikes**

That night, Joss, Taylor and Cali were home alone. John was still out on the case, and Shaw had dropped by to collect Bear and then left. Joss was just about to get Cali ready for bed when she heard a helicopter hovering low over the building for a few minutes and then veer off. She and Taylor looked at each other in confusion. "What the heck was that about?" Taylor asked his mother.

Joss shrugged, "I'll have Finch look into it after I get Cali down. Probably just a police chopper looking for someone."

Suddenly the large window in the living room blew in showering the large room with glass pieces. A woman that Taylor recognized as the one from the park earlier, wearing a repelling harness and carrying an extremely large gun, swung in screaming "Don't move!"

Joss didn't think twice, she threw herself at the intruder while screaming at Taylor to get Cali to the panic room. She and Kara went down to the floor in a tangle of arms and legs.

Kara was shocked when she tackled by the smaller Carter. She took a swing at the detective but Joss had already rolled off to the side and out of reach. Kara rolled over and tried to get to her feet, only to have Carter kick the gun out of her hand.

"Dammit!" Kara snarled in frustration as she scrabbled after her weapon. She had not expected the detective to be such a fierce fighter.

Carter bolted for the panic room door hidden in the master bedroom closet with Kara hot on her heels. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Kara raise her gun aiming for the open door of the panic room. Joss lunged for the intruder. "Taylor, shut the door! _Shut the door_!"

"Mom, NO!" the teen screamed.

"DO IT! Take care of your sister!" Joss yelled as she grabbed Kara's gun arm and forced it up so the shot hit the ceiling.

Taylor reluctantly hit the button and the door swiftly closed, but not before Kara elbowed Joss in the stomach and took a shot at the closing door. The bullet ricocheted harmlessly off the heavy metal of the door as it slammed shut and Kara could hear a loud click as the lock engaged. Frustrated, she turned to shoot Carter, but the She Wolf had already bolted for the living room. Kara snarled and ran after her. The kids might be out of reach, but she still could grab Reese's mate, and that should be enough to ensure his cooperation.

* * *

Inside the panic room, Taylor leaned his back against the wall and slid down until he was sitting on the floor. He started to sob while he hugged his baby sister to his chest. Cali looked up at her beloved big brother in confusion, her big blues eyes wide, not sure why he was so upset. Gently she reached up and patted his nose.

* * *

As soon as Joss knew the kids were safe she ran for the dining table in the kitchen/living room/dining room. John kept several guns hidden around the house and one was taped to the underside of the table along with a couple of clips.

Fortunately Kara had paused to take a shot at the panic room door, giving Joss that tiny head start she needed. By the time Kara had followed her to the living room and taken a shot at her, she had leapt onto the table and slid across the top to drop on the other side, right by where the gun was taped. In one fluid motion borne of the numerous drills John had put her through for just this situation, Joss ripped the gun from its hiding place, grabbed a clip and slammed the clip into the weapon. She popped up over the top of the table to return fire, forcing Kara to dive behind the kitchen island for safety.

* * *

As the heavy door swung shut, an alert that the panic room had been activated went out to all the members of the team. John, Shaw and Fusco all dropped what they were doing to race to the Carter/Reese home.

Finch was in the library when he received his alert. He immediately activated the hotline between the library and the panic room, but his heart sank when a panicked Taylor answered instead of Joss.

"Finch, mom is still out there!" the frantic teen sobbed.

Finch forced his voice to remain calm despite the rising tide of panic that threatened to overwhelm him. "Are you and your sister safe?"

"Yeah, we're locked in the panic room but mom didn't make it."

Finch immediately activated the camera/speaker system that he'd had installed in the Bunker for this type of emergency. He could see that there was only one intruder, but he gasped in shock when he realized the intruder was Kara Stanton. "Detective, are you alright?" he asked over the speaker system.

"Harold! Cut the lights! _Cut the lights now_!" Joss yelled, followed by gunfire.

A lot of people would have hesitated, a lot of people would have asked why, but Harold Finch had been working the numbers for several years and he had learned to react quickly. Finch had no idea what was going through Joss's head, but he trusted her enough to do as she requested as fast as humanly possible. All the lights in the Carter/Reese home were immediately switched off, leaving the home in almost total darkness with only the moonlight streaming in through the shattered window for illumination.

Unable to see anything inside the Bunker, Finch turned his attention to the map on another monitor. He watched as three blinking dots representing John, Sam and Lionel traversed the streets of New York all converging on the apartment. "Hang on Joss, the cavalry is coming, just a few more minutes," Finch said to himself as he mopped his forehead. and stared at the dots, on the screen, willing them to move faster.

* * *

Finch was right to trust Joss, for there was a method to her madness. Once the lights were out, she had a crucial advantage. This was her home, and after many nights dealing with nighttime feedings and diaper changings, she knew the layout by heart, allowing her to maneuver through the house in complete blackness with speed and confidence. She also recalled that John had once told her that Kara's Wolf sense was weak; it was not strong enough to allow her to track another Wolf. By contrast, Joss had one of the strongest Wolf senses around and she could easily track Kara with it. Kara could only track Joss in the dark if she made a sound, and Joss did not intend to make a sound.

Joss also knew that John had been alerted as soon as the panic room had been opened. All she had to do was hold out until he could get there. She just wished she knew how long that would be.

Joss held absolutely still, reaching out with her Wolf sense, feeling for the intruder. She could feel Kara creeping closer to her so she silently retreated around the couch so she could circle around and come up behind the ex-op.

* * *

Kara held still, listening; she knew why Carter had asked that Harold person to turn out the lights. Her opponent would know the layout of her own home and would have an easier time maneuvering around the furniture. But Kara had extensive training and experience in situations like this. She could move as silently as a ghost and her hearing was keen. She smiled to herself as she felt the thrill of the chase course through her veins. She loved this; she lived for this in a way the domesticated Carter couldn't possibly comprehend.

Kara _was_ the Dark, this was her element.

Slowly, Kara stalked her quarry, listening carefully for any sound that would give Carter's position away. She heard none and assumed that Carter was still hiding behind the big dining table. Her lip curled into a snarl of contempt as she imagined John and his family eating a holiday meal around the massive piece of furniture. John was soft now, he thought he was the Light, and Kara was going to use that to her advantage. She would crush his mate and in doing so, crush him. Then she would use him to find and crush Harold Finch.

Inch by cautious inch, Stanton moved forward. She paused listening. She should be close enough to hear Carter breathing by now and she was puzzled when she heard only silence. She frowned as she slowly moved her head from side to side trying to pick up the minutest sound. She briefly considered morphing to take advantage of her Wolf form's superior sense of hearing, but decided against it. If she morphed, she would lose her rappelling harness. Kara fully intended to leave the apartment via the front door with a gun held to Carter's head, but she was too good of an operative to cut off access to an avenue of escape in case anything unforeseen happened. She wasn't sure how long she had left before John or the police showed up. No, she would remain in human form for now.

Stanton was shocked when she was tackled from behind by Carter. Kara struggled to roll over but when she did, Carter used the butt of her gun to smash Kara across the face and then vanished into the darkness before Kara could retaliate. Kara rolled to her hands and knees swearing as she felt the blood trickling down her face from her nose.

"You're going to pay for that, little girl," Kara called out in a mocking tone of voice.

"Don't think so," came the equally mocking reply from the area of the kitchen.

Kara smiled and moved toward the voice, her ruse had worked, or so she thought. She stealthily approached the kitchen area only to have to duck when her face was nearly smashed by a cast iron frying pan. She kicked the legs out from under Carter and Joss went down on her back. She raised her gun to shoot Carter but the detective kicked Kara's legs out from under her and Kara's gun went clattering away across the floor as she went down. Kara drew a knife and tried to roll on top of Carter, but the frying pan smashed into her wrist and she lost the knife as well.

Joss rolled over on top of Kara and hit her in the nose. Kara swung her fist and caught Joss on the side of her face. Joss shook it off and hit Kara again.

They were interrupted when the front door flew open. "JOSS!" John yelled as he, Shaw and Bear burst through the door. Kara threw Joss off her, slamming Joss's shoulder in the kitchen island and sprinted for the window. with Bear hot on her heels.

"Finch hit the lights!" John yelled. The lights came on immediately, just in time for John to see his ex-partner scrambling out the window, just barely ahead of the dog. He was across the living room and at the window with cold-blooded murder in his silver-blue eyes in a fraction of a second. Shaw was right behind him, a look of grim determination on her face.

As John and Shaw looked out the window they were driven back by automatic gun fire. Lambert had been waiting for Kara with a car at the side of the building and he peppered the window area with bullets, forcing the two ex-operatives back. John and Shaw returned fire as best they could, but they were firing blindly. Kara repelled rapidly down the side of the building and scrambled for the car that was waiting for her in a hail of bullets.

Lambert peeled out as several shots hit the trunk and shattered the back window. He looked over at Kara. "I take it things did not go as planned?" he asked blandly.

"Obviously," Kara snapped. Then she stopped, realizing that Joss had called out to "Harold" to cut the lights while John had called the same person "Finch." A huge wolfish smiled crept across her face. "I did learn something interesting."

* * *

Back at the Bunker, John emptied his clip into the fleeing car, and then, actually shaking with anger and adrenaline, he pounded his fist on the concrete wall next to the window while Shaw looked on uncomfortably, unsure what to do. He then leaned his head against the wall, panting heavily and bringing his emotions under control. Bear whined loudly and Shaw sat down on the floor to soothe the dog, and truthfully, herself.

When the bullets had started flying, Joss had curled into ball on the floor with her arms over her head. Now that it was quiet, she picked herself up off the floor and walked over to John. She stood next to him, looking out the window at the taillights of the car in the distance. John turned and grabbed her into a rib cracking embrace. He pressed her much smaller body to his much larger frame so tightly he looked like a giant amoeba trying to surround her body with his own. "Are you alright?" he asked, his voice hoarse with emotion.

"I'm fine," she said as she returned the hug and buried her face in his chest, trembling with her own adrenaline rush and the realization how close her family had come to being victims of John's vicious ex-partner.

"Where're our kids?" John asked as he nuzzled her hair, filling his nose with her jasmine scent to calm himself.

"Safe in the panic room."

John's arms tightened around her. "Why aren't you in there?"

"Kara almost got to the kids and I had to jump her. I told Taylor to close the door."

Lionel charged into the apartment at that point. He let out a long low whistle when he saw the shattered window with glass lying all over the living room, numerous bullet holes in the walls, furniture over turned and a broken cabinet door on the kitchen island. "It looks like the gunfight at the OK Corral in here! Is everyone alright?"

Joss turned her head to look at her partner and nodded as she clung to her mate. Frankly, at this point her legs were so shaky, John was literally the only thing holding her up.

"What the hell happened?" Fusco asked as he holstered his gun.

John turned his head towards his friend and pack mate, his eyes hard and cold. "This is the handiwork of my ex-partner Kara Stanton," he growled low and dangerously in his throat.

Fusco blinked in surprise. "No kidding? I thought she was turned into kibble when Snow's vest blew?"

Joss shook her head as she shakily sat down on the couch. "She's wearing a big eye patch and limping, so she was probably hurt badly. But trust me; she's still alive and shooting."

John began pacing the living room like a caged animal. "This is my past catching up with me. I knew this would happen someday."

Fusco watched John and rolled his eyes. "Gentlemen, start your brooding."

John stopped his pacing and glared at his friend. "Lionel, take my family to the safe house and stay with them. Take Bear too. I have some business to take care of. Shaw, you're with me."

Joss gasped, "No John, Kara is trying to draw you out. She wants to get to you. You need to lay low." _With your family_ was left unsaid, but they all understood what she meant.

John knelt in front of her and cupped her face in his hands. "I won't hide. Kara came after …my…family…" his voice choked off and he closed his eyes for a few seconds, then he opened them and Joss shuddered a bit as she saw the intense gaze of the assassin staring at her. "No one tries to hurt my family and gets away with it. No. One."

At that moment, Taylor walked into the room carrying Cali. John and Joss immediately jumped up and grabbed them into a big family hug.

"Whoa, whoa, guys we need to breathe here!" Taylor yelped.

John took Cali. "Get some things together; you're staying at the safe house until I can eliminate this problem."

Taylor knew that tone of voice. He nodded and scurried off to his room without another word.

"John, I'm going with you. Stanton attacked my family too. I can call my mom to stay with the kids," Joss pleaded.

John kissed his daughter on her plump little cheek and handed her to Joss. "No, the kids need their mother."

"They need their father too, John," Joss said softly, placing her hand on his arm before he could turn away from her.

John paused, bowed his head and placed his large hand over her much smaller one. He looked at her and Joss could see the tears that were already beginning to pool in his eyes. She gasped at the regret she saw there. "Oh John…"

John pressed his lips to hers in a sweet, tender kiss and touched his forehead to hers. "This is _my_ past, _my_ mistakes, _my_ problem." And then he turned and swept from the room before Joss could say anything else.

Joss watched him go, trying desperately to burn the picture of him in her mind, afraid this would be the last time she ever saw him. But she was having trouble seeing him through her tears.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys, I just wanted to thank everyone who hung in there during the recent technical difficulties to read chapter 5 and leave a review. I know it was frustrating, but reviews are important to us writers and I really ****appreciate your efforts. You guys are the best!**

* * *

**Kidnapped**

Finch shuddered when he saw the look of death in Mr. Reese's eyes when he entered the library after the attempt on his family. Finch had heard the expression "There was murder in his eyes" before of course, but he had never truly seen it in the flesh until now. As long as he had worked with Reese, he had never seen him ready and willing to commit cold blooded murder before today. He had known Reese was willing to kill to protect the innocent, but this was different. One look into the cold, intensely angry eyes of his friend and Finch knew he was dealing with the man the police had long ago dubbed the Angel of Death. This was the John Reese Kara Stanton had created, and that John Reese was about to hunt down his creator.

Finch swallowed hard. "Are Joss and the children at the safe house?"

Reese nodded coldly. "Lionel and Bear are with them."

"We'll get the bitch, John" Shaw said softly. Her own brown eyes had gone cold as well. Joss was her friend, and no one messed with Shaw's friends.

Reese regarded her coldly. "Yes, we will," he said flatly in that deadly whisper that Finch had learned long ago meant that John Reese had let the monster out of his dark place. Shaw had never seen this side of John before and she blinked at him in surprise, which he ignored.

Reese turned to Finch. "Do we know how Kara managed to find my home?"

"I think I have the answer to that," Shaw said and she pulled a tiny tracking device out of her pocket. "I found this under Bear's collar after the commotion died down at your place."

John took it from her and looked at it, his face set in the glacial mask of the assassin. "How did it get there?" his voice deadly calm.

Shaw placed a hand on his arm. "On our way over here, I texted Taylor. He replied back that Stanton approached him and Bear as they were coming home from the park this afternoon. She must have planted it then. Taylor's pretty upset to think she tricked him."

John's face momentarily softened. "He didn't know."

Shaw sighed, "I told him the same thing."

John turned back to Finch. "I need to find Kara."

Finch pulled a couple of pieces of paper out of his printer and handed one each to Shaw and Reese. "Since we last had dealings with Decima and your former partner, I've been trying to find any and all properties associated with their organization in the tri-state area. They covered their tracks well, but after much time and effort, I have compiled this list of possible locations."

Reese looked down at his list. "Let's get to it." And he turned on his heel and left without another word to either of them.

Shaw looked over at Finch, unable to keep the bewilderment out of her expression. "That's a new 'tude for him."

Finch shook his head, "No Ms. Shaw, it is an old attitude, one that has been dormant for several years now." He took his glasses off and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I had hoped to never see it again," he said regretfully as he watched his friend descend the stair case.

Shaw shrugged, completely out of her element for the second time that night. However, she knew she had a job to do. "I'll call you if I find anything," and she too left.

Finch sat down at his computer and stared blankly at the screen for a few minutes. Then he put his glasses back on and began typing.

* * *

John parked down the street from the third address on his list. He pulled out his scope and carefully examined the building. It was a typical structure for this neighborhood, three stories tall with space for a few businesses on the first floor and what looked like apartments on the second and third floors.

The business space was vacant and a faded sign advertising space for rent hung crookedly on one of the doors. John's eyes moved up the second and third floors. The curtains on all the windows on the upper floors were closed tightly and John was unable to see in. His trained eye did notice that all the curtains were exactly the same, as if the two top floors were not separate apartments but one large apartment.

John's intuition, honed to a fine edge by his years in the CIA, was screaming at him. He dialed the number that was on the 'space for rent' sign. The number was disconnected.

John called Finch next. "Finch I'm at the building on Jason Avenue. How long has it been since the space on the first floor of the building was leased?"

"One minute." John heard the sounds of typing. "The building was sold about three years ago, there have been no businesses on the first floor since."

_Interesting_, thought John.

* * *

On the second floor of the building in front of Reese, Lambert's phone buzzed. Kara looked up from cleaning her small arsenal while Lambert spoke to his man on the other end.

"We have a problem," Lambert growled when he hung up. "Campbell is out on the street on watch and he just saw your former partner pull up outside."

Kara grinned as she swiftly started reassembling her weapon, "Why is that a problem? He saved us the trouble of hunting him down."

Lambert grimaced. "We'll have to abandon this place. We have to assume the people he's working with know he's here."

Kara shrugged. "Not a big deal. You know as well as I do there're other plenty of other places we can use. Besides once we have John, his precious little mate," Kara's lip lifted in a sneer at the thought of Joss Carter, "will have to cough up Harold Finch and we can get out of this hell hole of a city. How many men do you have lounging around?"

Lambert paused for a minute thinking, "Counting Campbell outside, I have five."

"Hmmm, it would be nice to have a couple more. Reese is good, very, very good. I'll just have to be fast with the sedative. Get your men and have Campbell meet us at the back entrance."

* * *

John spent several minutes watching the building. His instincts were telling him this was the place, but there was no movement, nothing to indicate it was occupied. Long experience had taught him that meant nothing, so he decided to take a closer look.

John moved silently down the street, sticking to the shadows, every sense on high alert. Still, he detected no movement, no sounds from the building as he stealthily approached.

As he turned the corner and slipped into the alley behind the building, he was ambushed by six men. John swiftly disabled half of them, but there were just too many of them and they were too well trained. He was pinned against a wall with the remaining men holding him tightly. One of the injured men viciously punched him in the face and stomach several times while he was immobilized before he heard Kara's sharp voice, "Knock it off, I need him alive!" The man punching Reese growled and snarled, showing the gap in his mouth where John had knocked out several teeth, but stepped back.

John looked up and blinked through the blood that ran into his eye from a cut on his forehead to see his former partner stroll up to him like she didn't have a care in the world. "Nice to see you again, John," she purred at him as she stroked his chin as if they were still lovers.

He jerked his face away from her hand as if her fingers burned him. "Pleasure's all yours, Kara," he replied, coughing.

"It will soon be Harold Finch's," she smiled at him like a lioness smiles at a wounded gazelle as she stuck a needle into his shoulder. John recognized that smile from all the torture sessions he'd shared with her during their ungodly partnership.

As John started to black out his last thoughts were W_hy does she want Harold? How does she even know about him?_

* * *

John groggily returned to consciousness in a bare room chained to a bed. He heard the subway rumble by, telling him they were nowhere near the building where he had found Kara.

"Don't try to morph," came a familiar and unwelcome voice. "You can't, the tranqs won't let you."

John turned his head to see Kara enter the room. He blinked a few times to clear his eyes. "I know," he said curtly. He'd had enough unpleasant experiences with sedatives to know they not only interfered with his ability to connect with his mate through their mating bond, but they also prevented him from morphing into his Wolf form until his system was completely free of them.

Kara crawled on the bed and straddled him, taking care to rub her pelvis against his crotch. "Miss me lover?" she asked in a seductive tone, and ground herself against him some more.

John looked her straight in the eye. "No."

"I see you're still a brilliant conversationalist," Kara growled as she ran her hands down his chest.

John just looked at her impassively without saying a word, his normally expressive eyes betraying no emotion whatsoever. He knew the best way to get to her was to not react to her. He'd had plenty of experience in this little game. Kara glared back, irritated by his lack of reaction to her attempt at seduction.

She reached down and pulled John's collar to one side. Her eyes glittered with anger when she saw the mating scar at the junction of his neck and shoulder. She crossed her arms, "I see you took a mate and birthed that demon spawn. How very…_domestic_." She hissed the last word like it was an expletive. John knew to her, it was.

John was too used to her games and didn't let the insult to his family rattle him. "You seem unhappy Kara. Perhaps you should try a new line of work."

Kara gave him a feral snarl, "Families, all the white picket fence shit; that's not (for) people like us, John."

Kara was taken aback when John started to laugh. It was a real laugh, the type of laugh she had only heard from John a couple of times over the four and half years they had been partners. It started deep in his belly and rumbled up through his chest until it spilled out of his mouth. She could see the mirth in his one eye that wasn't swollen shut. She began to wonder if Lambert's men had hit him too hard and given him a concussion.

"What's so funny?" she snarled.

"You still believe that?" John snickered again his good eye twinkling at her. "Spare me that 'We are the Dark' lecture. I've heard it already."

Kara leaned forward and whispered into his ear, "Remember that Saudi princess? Love didn't do her any good, did it John?"

John smiled at her through his split lip. "Shalima Mullah was a child. Joss is a woman and the strongest person I know."

"Oh yes, your precious little mate," Kara sneered, but there was an edge of desperation to her voice that was not lost on John. This conversation was clearly not going the way Kara had envisioned.

Kara decided to try another tactic. She smirked and slid back so she was straddling John's thighs. Slowly she unzipped his pants and removed his cock. Slowly, sensuously, she stroked it, but John didn't react. He was repulsed by her attempt to interfere with his bond with Joss and he found it surprisingly easy to remain unaffected by her ministrations.

"What's the matter, John?" Kara mocked him. "Your little Jossy render you impotent? You used to enjoy this so much."

John simply looked coldly back at her. "I never enjoyed it Kara, I was just being a good soldier." His voice dripped with contempt.

Enraged, Kara slapped him hard across the face.

John pressed his advantage, hoping to keep Stanton off balance and talking as long as he could. He was starting to feel the touch of his mate through their bond. "Joss took you on and won," he mocked her.

Kara slid off John and the bed and loomed over him, "That's only because I was on her home turf. The next time we meet, I'm going to destroy her while you watch."

John didn't allow any emotion to show in his face, but his blood ran cold at his former partner's declaration. He knew it was far from an idle threat. He also knew that Kara would enjoy every minute of it. It had never been just a job for her; she had reveled in being the Dark.

Kara reached for a case that was sitting on the bedside table and removed a syringe from it. "For now, I can't let your mate track you using your bond so I'm going to have to knock you out until it's time to meet your little Jossy-dear and Harold Finch. You understand," she purred.

John felt the prick of the needle and then blackness overcame him.


	7. Chapter 7

**Missing**

Joss was trying to relax on the couch in the safe house with a magazine and failing miserably. She had just put Cali down for a nap and Taylor was in his room doing his homework. She was on edge; she desperately wanted to reach out to John through their bond, but she knew that in her current emotional state she could prove to be a deadly distraction for him. He was going up against the deadliest foe he had ever faced and, even with Shaw and Harold to back him up, he needed to be completely focused. Joss kept her feelings tightly locked down, but not knowing what was going on was only making her more anxious and jumpy with each passing minute.

She wasn't the only one in the luxurious condo who was feeling edgy; Fusco prowled the kitchen restlessly, opening and shutting cabinet doors and making little grunts of annoyance.

"Lionel, what are you looking for?" Joss asked wearily, giving up on the magazine and tossing it on the coffee table in front of her.

Fusco slammed the last cabinet door. "I don't know," he admitted. "I was going to eat my feelings, but nothing sounds good."

Joss sighed heavily and leaned back on the couch. "I suppose we should eat something, but I'm not hungry."

Fusco pulled a card out of a drawer. "We can order out."

Joss waved a hand. "Order what you want. Just be sure to order enough for Taylor too, you know how teenagers are."

Just then Joss's phone rang. She smiled with relief when she saw the caller ID. It said the number was unknown, but Joss knew that number well. "It's John!" she said, not bothering to keep the relief out of her voice. _Please let him be calling to tell me it's over,_ she thought.

Fusco paused as he reached for the phone, "I'll wait n' see if he's going to join us."

Joss pushed the button to answer the call. "John, what's going on?"

"Hello Jocelyn, dear. It's so nice to hear your voice," Kara Stanton purred into her ear. Joss's eyes opened wide then the she put her phone on speaker so Fusco could hear. His eyes grew wide and his mouth set in a think line as he realized what Kara calling on John's phone must mean.

"Hi Kara, has the bleeding stopped?" Joss greeted her opponent with exaggerated false cheer. She was not about to show any weakness for Kara to exploit.

"Hilarious," Kara growled. "Listen closely, little girl. You know where Harold Finch is and I want him. Bring him to the place where he sold the laptop to the Chinese by midnight or you won't even find John's body.

"Toodles dear, it's been good talking to you again," The ex-op mocked, and the line went dead.

Fusco hit his earpiece, "Finch did you hear that? Does Stanton really have John?"

"Yes, I'm afraid it's true. I lost contact with Mr. Reese a short while ago and just found security camera footage of his abduction. I was just about to call you."

Fusco growled deep in his chest and then met Joss's eyes. "Can you feel him?" he asked his partner.

Joss closed her eyes and focused her Wolf sense on finding her mate. Fusco stared at her, willing her to find John, but after a few minutes she opened her eyes and shook her head.

Fusco and Carter both stood up. "We're on our way, Finch." Carter felt an unnatural calm come over her. The mother and the mate faded to the background and the soldier who had survived two tours in two war zones took over. Fusco glanced over at her and he allowed himself a teensy smile when he saw the familiar look of cold determination on his partner's face.

Joss walked back to the bedroom where Taylor was sitting on the bed working on his homework. The teen glanced up and saw that his mother had her game face on and he instantly tensed. That look meant something was very wrong.

Joss's voice was steady and firm as she addressed her son. "Taylor watch your sister. Lionel and I have business elsewhere, I'll call Laskey to come stay with you and we'll leave Bear here as well. There are bottles in the fridge."

Taylor knew that tone of voice and knew better than to ask questions or argue. "No problem mom." Silently he wondered how long it would be before he saw his parents again.

**************LINE BREAK

Later, Joss, Lionel and Shaw stood watching over Finch's shoulder as he replayed the footage of the ambush on John. Joss's chest swelled with pride as she saw her mate take out three of the six men sent to take him down. She watched stoically as some of the men held him down while one of them beat him. She watched in dread as Kara poked him with a syringe. Joss's hand covered her mouth as she watched her mate sag in the men's arms as the drugs took effect.

Then Kara looked up at the security camera, smiled coyly and kissed the unconscious John a long, lingering kiss while her hand reached down and cupped his crotch. Joss's lips lifted in the ugliest snarl Lionel had ever seen from her. Not that Lionel blamed her, in Wolf terms, Kara had just dealt Joss a huge insult by kissing and touching her mate. The bond between a mated pair was taken very seriously in Wolf culture and what Kara had just done was considered to be an unpardonable affront to his bond with Joss. But judging from the smile Kara gave the camera, it was intended to provoke the she Wolf. Lionel decided that he really did not want to be in Kara's shoes when Joss caught up to her.

Shaw growled, "No wonder Joss can't feel him, they knocked him out."

Joss nodded tensely, "Kara's Wolf too, she would know about mating bonds, and that tranquilizers interfere with them." _And what an insult it was to kiss and touch John_ was left unsaid.

"So how do we get Batman back from the one woman on the planet who makes Root look sane and normal?" Lionel grunted.

"We give them what they want," Finch said. "Me."

Joss whipped her head around and glared at him. "No," she snapped.

Finch remained calm, but firm. "Joss, it's the only way to get John back."

"John wouldn't want us to sacrifice you for him." Joss insisted. As badly as she wanted John back she was not willing to make that trade.

"I have no intention of sacrificing myself." Finch said. _If I don't have to_, he added silently to himself. "We simply have to make them _think_ we are trading me for John."

Joss took a deep cleansing breath and released it slowly, just as John had taught her. "Stanton wants to exchange John for you at the same place where the laptop was sold. Harold I need a topographical map of that area."

Finch turned back to his keyboard and a few keystrokes later the requested map showed on Finch's screen. Joss and Shaw looked it over carefully, picking out places where snipers would be stationed. Carefully the four of them devised a plan for the exchange.


	8. Chapter 8

**Confrontation**

The car carrying Joss and Harold approached the meeting place. Kara was already there, standing by a car with a man Joss recognized as the getaway driver from the previous night. Joss stopped their car about 20 yards from Kara and got out.

"Nice to see you again, Joss," Kara mocked in an oh-so-sweet voice with a smirk on her face.

"Likewise Kara. How's the wrist? And your face?" Joss shot back calmly.

Kara's face lost the smirk and she stared at Joss coldly. "Where's Harold Finch?"

Harold stepped up next to Joss, pulled himself up to his full height and looked the woman who wanted to kill him slowly and painfully straight in the eye without flinching. Joss had forgotten he was several inches taller than her and had a commanding presence all his own when he wanted to use it. Joss also knew he was terrified, but the shy computer nerd had a core of steel and she was proud of her friend for his display of courage. She slipped her hand into his and gave it a reassuring squeeze. He squeezed it back without taking his eyes off Stanton. "I'm right here," he said without a trace of the fear Joss knew he had to be feeling right now.

The man standing next to Stanton sniffed, "That's not Harold Finch. Harold Finch is tall and blonde. And Harold Finch was definitely not a cripple."

Harold gave the man a sad smile. "No, I'm afraid that man was my employee masquerading as me to sell the laptop. _**I**_ am Harold Finch. _**I**_ created the Machine."

"Before this goes any further, I want to see John, _now_," Joss demanded.

Kara smirked and sashayed over to the back door of her car. Joss held her breath as Kara pulled John from the back seat, and then she expelled it in a rush when she saw her mate. She could see he had been beaten pretty badly. He had a black eye that was mostly swollen shut, a cut over the other eye, a split lip and he slumped against the car in obvious pain. Joss kept her face neutral but her eyes watered a bit as she assessed his condition.

"How are you, baby?" Joss asked her mate.

Despite his beaten and bloody condition, the corners of his mouth lifted into the familiar smirk and Joss felt a smile form on her face to answer him. "Been better, been worse," he croaked. "How are the kids?"

"They're safe," Joss replied calmly, refusing to let her voice choke up. She knew better than to show any weakness in front of Stanton. She reached out with her Wolf sense, trying to re-establish their bond, but there were still too many drugs in his system for her to be successful.

Kara's impatient voice sliced through the night like a siren. "Well this reunion is quite touching, but I want the son of a bitch who sold that laptop."

"He is resting in a shallow grave about 50 yards behind you, Ms. Stanton," Finch said calmly. "The sale of the laptop was interrupted by persons unknown who killed him and a couple of the buyers. I buried him as best I could, but I'm afraid with my condition, I'm not very good with a shovel."

Shaw, listening on the open line, closed her eyes. Memories flooded her mind of her very first mission, a night exactly like this in this exact location. She recalled a tall blonde man selling a laptop to three Chinese agents, one of the Chinese fleeing into the dark as Shaw began shooting. She licked her lips, everything she had heard tonight pointed her to the one conclusion she had not wanted to reach. The laptop that John and Stanton had nearly died for, the laptop that prevented John from saving his ex-girlfriend's life, that very same laptop had slipped through Shaw's fingers as well.

Then Shaw focused back on her job. She couldn't change the past, but she could help bring John back to his family and to the team.

Kara gaped at Harold, "He's dead? "

Harold nodded sadly. "I'm afraid his baser instincts got the better of him. I don't know who killed him."

Despite the circumstances, Joss felt a bit sorry for Kara Stanton. Stanton had served her country like a good soldier only to be betrayed and tossed aside like a used tissue. Since then, her life had revolved around revenge, revenge she would forever be denied.

Kara closed her eye briefly and took a deep breath. When she opened it, she fixed it on Harold with a glare of pure hatred. "If I can't have the man who sold the laptop, I'll take the man who wrote the code."

"I have orders to bring Harold Finch in," Lambert said. He looked over at Harold. "We need your help to bring Samaritan online and shutdown your Machine. Then Kara can have you."

"You're not taking him," Joss said. "You'll have to go through me."

"Oh I was hoping you would say that," Kara laughed. Then Kara tilted her head to one side and the corner of her mouth quirked up in a smirk. "Well, Joss, it's been nice, but it's time for you to die now… GO!" Kara shouted triumphantly.

There was a pause where the only sounds anyone could hear were crickets chirping merrily away, while Joss stood next to Harold, staring straight at Kara defiantly. Slowly a smile spread across Joss's face as it became clear that Lionel and Shaw had done their jobs.

Kara and Lambert looked around in confusion for a few seconds and then snarled in frustration as they realized their snipers had been neutralized.

Harold Finch got the tiniest of smiles on his face but his voice contained a commanding tone when he spoke. "It would appear, Ms. Stanton, that my people are better than yours. I would suggest you and your colleague drop your weapons, give us Mr. Reese, and leave. I don't want anyone to die to tonight; too many people have already been hurt."

Joss could feel the cold fury radiating off Kara. Wave after wave of raw anger slammed into her Wolf sense and the two women locked stares across the few yards of gravel road that separated them. Joss understood in that moment that Kara was not simply going to give up and walk away. Kara was about to make her last stand. "Go," Joss said quietly and reluctantly.

Lambert's gun arm twitched as he was about to raise his weapon at Finch but Fusco had had him in his sights since Lambert had gotten out of the car. Calmly, Lionel neatly put a single bullet in Lambert's chest, killing him instantly.

Kara's Wolf hearing and reflexes saved her. As soon as she heard Joss utter the word "Go", she leapt to one side and Shaw's bullet barely missed, shattering the car window behind her. Kara grabbed the shackled and drugged John, intending to put a bullet in his brain, but Joss was already moving. While Kara was dodging Shaw's second shot, Joss had swiftly covered the ground separating them and was able to tackle Kara to the ground before she could raise her gun.

The two She Wolves rolled over several times, both trying to gain the upper hand. Kara wound up on top and punched Joss hard in the face, but Joss managed to throw her off before she could get a second blow in. Kara landed hard on her side, rolled to her feet and vanished into the brush at the side of the road. Joss rolled to her feet as well, "Take care of John!" she called over her shoulder to Harold as she followed Kara out of sight.

"Joss! No!" John tried to call to his mate, but his voice was too hoarse to project much. He took a step to follow her, but the drugs, the beating and the shackles were too much for him and he only went down to his hands and knees sobbing "No."

As quickly as he could move, Harold was by his side helping him to his feet. "You're in no shape to go after her, John."

"Get the… key… Lambert's pocket," John gritted out between clenched teeth as he struggled to his feet.

As Finch turned to do as John asked, Fusco and Shaw emerged from the dark at the side of the road carrying their rifles.

"Where's Joss?" Fusco asked.

Harold pointed to the spot in the brush where Joss and Kara had been, "She went after Stanton. They went…"

Then several gun shots rang out and everyone froze; except John who could only scream "Joss!" in anguish before he collapsed again and started crawling towards the sound of the gunshots. "Joss!"

Shaw recovered first. With a hard expression on her face she handed her rifle off to Fusco and pulled out her Nano, working the slide with a practiced snap. "I'll be back," she snarled as she too vanished into the bush.

* * *

As soon as she was out of sight of the men, Joss pulled her gun from her holster under her left arm and reached out with her Wolf sense, feeling for the renegade She Wolf. She could feel Kara several yards up ahead holding still, probably waiting to ambush her.

Joss's face took on the look of steely determination that John had seen many times before and had grown to dread. Joss crashed through the brush making as much noise as she could until she was only a few feet from Kara's hiding place and swiftly ducked.

Kara swung a knife in a huge arc that would have slashed Joss's throat open if she had not ducked. Kara was completely off balance when her knife met no resistance and Joss took advantage of the situation to punch Kara hard in the kidneys, nearly knocking her down. Kara recovered swiftly and swung her knife back around again, but Joss was too fast and danced out of the way of the blade.

The two women faced each other circling slowly as they sized each other up. Kara, keeping her eye locked on Joss, made a blind move to slice at the wrist of Joss's gun hand. Joss jumped to the side to avoid the blow briefly taking her eyes off Kara. Kara surged forward and tackled Joss to the ground, slicing her shoulder with the knife. Joss's gun was lost as the two women struggled.

Kara lifted her arm up with the knife to stab Joss again and Joss used the heel of her hand to strike up at Kara's nose. Kara grunted in pain but sliced at Joss again, catching her arm. With a mighty heave Joss managed to throw Kara off her to one side. Kara rolled away from Joss, finally coming to rest a few yards away on her hands and knees.

Joss didn't even notice the pain from the cuts Kara had inflicted on her as she too rolled to her hands and knees. The two antagonists faced each other briefly, each waiting for the other to make a move. Then Kara gave Joss a smile of pure malice and morphed.

In Wolf form Kara was all lean limbs, white fangs and a single hate-filled eye. Even her chocolate brown fur had a harsh, untamed texture to it. There was no softness there, no indication this was once a beloved daughter and sister from a Wolf pack. This was simply a killing machine that had left her humanity behind a long time ago.

Joss morphed into the black Wolf and once again the two began circling each other, sizing up their Wolf forms. Kara saw a small soft black Wolf; "More of a dog really," she thought to herself with a sneer. With that thought, she launched herself at full speed towards Joss.

Joss anticipated the attack and easily dodged the larger brown Wolf. John had long ago taught her to use her agility and speed in any fight and avoid a contest that required strength. Kara landed hard on her side and Joss used her momentary advantage to attack Kara's unprotected flank. She inflicted a savage bite before the stunned Kara was able to round on her and counter attack. However Kara was only able to get in a painful nip on Joss's side before the nimble black Wolf was out of range.

Kara lunged after Joss and the two clashed in a tangle of legs and flashing teeth as each one tried to get a hold of the other's throat. They ripped and tore at each other for what seemed to be several minutes but was probably only a few seconds. Neither was able to do any significant damage to the other, and they broke apart to begin another round of circling.

Out of the corner of her eye Joss saw a metallic glint in the weeds in the moonlight and realized that it was the gun she had previously lost. Now if she could just get to it…

Suddenly Kara faked right and came in from the left catching Joss off guard. Joss went down, but managed to twist herself so that she could bite at Kara's underside before Kara could get a grip on her throat. Kara was forced to leap back before Joss could rip at Kara's unprotected stomach.

Taking advantage of Kara's momentary lapse, Joss threw herself at the spot where her gun lay. Her hand landed on it, she morphed, turned and fired at Kara in one smooth motion as Kara launched herself through the air at Joss. Two bullets hit Kara at near point blank range in the chest and the brown Wolf fell to the ground with a cry of pain and surprise.

Joss rolled away from Kara, coming up on her knees pointing the gun at the ex-op; but the weapon was no longer needed, it was obvious that Kara's wounds were mortal.

Kara laughed a bitter laugh that dissolved into a coughing fit. It was clear to both of them that Kara had only a few minutes left in this world. "I can't believe someone like you beat me," she gasped.

Joss lowered the gun and looked at her sadly; she knew Kara would never understand. "I was fighting to protect my family."

"I'll see you and John in hell," Kara said so quietly Joss almost couldn't hear her.

The right side of Joss's mouth lifted in a small smile. "Maybe you will, maybe you won't, but if you do see us, John and I will be _together_."

Then Kara gasped out her final breath and lay still. Joss watched without remorse as the woman who tried to destroy her family died. Joss sat and stared at the corpse for several seconds, reflecting on the wasted life of Kara Stanton. No one would mourn the once faithful soldier and patriot.

Joss heard what sounded like a person approaching and she turned her to see Shaw emerge from the brush. Shaw looked at the bloodied Joss and the dead Kara and put her gun away. "Remind me to stay on your good side."

"Do you really need a reminder?" Joss joked weakly as the adrenaline was wearing off and her shoulder and arm throbbed painfully.

Shaw looked at the large puddle of blood under Kara's body and shook her head. "Naw, the visual is good enough. You need a hand?"

"Yeah, help me up, I think I'm good to walk." Joss's voice sounded weary, even to her. "Then get my spare clothes out of the car for me, Fusco and Finch flip out when they see naked Wolves."

Shaw gave Joss her hand and helped the Alpha She Wolf to her feet. Then Shaw hurried off and returned a few minutes later with the bag of spare clothes that the Wolves kept in the Lincoln for just such "emergencies." Shaw helped the exhausted Joss dress and they made their way through the brush back to the where the cars were parked. As they walked out onto the road, the first thing they saw was Finch trying to prevent John from dragging his badly beaten and drugged body after Joss.

As soon as he saw his mate, John reached for her, tears in his eyes. Joss dropped to her knees next to him, cradled his head in her arms and buried her face in his hair. "It's over baby. She won't bother us again." John wrapped his arms around her and closed his eyes, crying. The two of them just held each other, rocking back and forth as it sank in that not only were they free of the nightmare, they still had each other and their family was intact.

Finally Joss helped John to his feet and steered him to the back seat of the Lincoln. She turned to Fusco and Shaw, "I need to take John home."

Fusco gripped her shoulder. "Don't worry, The Little Rambo That Could and I will take care of the clean-up."

"I heard that pudgy!" Shaw snapped.

Joss smiled for the first time since Kara had come crashing through her living room window over 24 hours ago. "Thanks Lionel. Thanks Sam."

Shaw gave Joss a rare smile. "Go take care of him."

Joss nodded and climbed in the car, taking John's head in her lap. "Take us home, Finch."


	9. Chapter 9

**The last chapter! Once again I need to thank ****nicdvidmaker for the Beta and thank all of you who left a review or sent a PM. Special shout out to jakela, carolinagirl919 and elev for listening to me whine and snivel; you guys are a the best bunch of friends a gal can have. I'm proud to be a member of the Careese community.**

* * *

**It's Over**

The ride back home passed silently. Joss held John's head to her chest, kissed his forehead and then stared out the window thinking about how close she had come to losing everything that night. John dozed lightly as the drugs worked their way out of his system. Finch kept glancing up in the rear-view mirror at them, as if he was worried they would vanish from his backseat and he would lose them forever.

After a while Harold pulled up to the apartment building and he turned to the couple in the back seat. "The broken window has been replaced with a thicker window that withstands more punishment. I have also had motion sensors installed on the roof so if anyone attempts to enter your home through that route again we will have some warning. The bullet holes have been patched and painted, and the living room has been thoroughly cleaned."

Joss smiled gratefully at the software genius, "Thanks Harold."

Harold nodded to acknowledge her gratitude. "However, I will understand if you no longer wish to live here. I have numerous other properties…"

Joss gripped Harold's arm where it rested on the back of the front passenger seat. "That won't be necessary, Harold, but thank you for the offer. This is our home, the one that John and I made _together_. We'll be staying right here."

"As you wish, Detective. Shall I get your children and bring them home?"

"I would appreciate that Harold, thank you."

"I'll be back shortly then."

Joss smiled at him and got out of the car. John unsteadily followed her and was forced to lean against the car for a minute. Joss slid her arm about John's waist and he put his around her shoulders. She carefully supported him as they walked slowly into the building. Finch sat and watched them until they were out of sight, then he pulled away from the curb, heading for the safe house where the children were waiting.

* * *

Joss gently steered her mate into the elevator and entered the code for the top floor on the keypad. John leaned heavily against the wall and realized for the first time that Joss had been cut in two places. "You shouldn't have chased Kara by yourself," he said softly as he gently stroked her face.

Joss covered his hand with hers. "I had to make sure she never bothered us again."

John winced as he tried to shift his weight. He probably had a couple of broken ribs. "It should have been me. That was my past… catching up with me."

Joss reached out to steady her mate. "Oh John, we're in this together."

The elevator dinged cheerfully, indicating they had reached the top floor. Joss walked John out of the elevator and into the Bunker. Finch was right, the Bunker was clean, probably cleaner than it would ever be again with a teenager and an infant living there, Joss thought.

She steered John into the master bedroom and they gently stripped themselves of their filthy clothes. They looked over each other's wounds to be sure that they didn't have any injuries serious enough to warrant Shaw's expert attention. Despite the beating John had received, aside from the cracked ribs, none of his injuries were serious, nothing a few days of rest wouldn't cure. Joss's knife wounds were superficial, her leather jacket had borne the brunt of the punishment; her cuts would heal within a few days.

Joss led John into the shower and they climbed in together. John gave Joss a weary smile as his eyes drifted over her body. "Too bad I still have these drugs in my system."

"Down boy," Joss replied with a smile, relieved John was acting more like himself. "Even if you weren't still woozy, I think your ribs will prevent any activities."

"Spoil sport," he replied drowsily.

Joss kissed him softly, "I'll give you a rain check on the shower sex."

Gently they scrubbed each other clean, then turned off the water and dried off. Joss helped John into a t-shirt and pajama bottoms and then she threw on one his dress shirts, her preferred sleeping attire. She taped his ribs and butterflied the cut over his eye. He carefully bandaged her cut shoulder and arm. Then Joss helped and exhausted John into bed. Just as she was pulling the covers over him, she heard "Mom?" coming from the living room.

"In here, Taylor!" She called back.

Taylor entered the room carrying Cali. He set Cali down on the bed and she crawled to her daddy, settled in the crook of his arm, and promptly fell asleep.

"Finch says it's over, Mom," Taylor said as he tried not to stare at this step-father's battered face.

"It is baby. It is," Joss assured him. "You should get some rest."

Taylor gave her a hug, patted John on the shoulder and left the room.

Joss looked down and saw John was already asleep. She kissed his forehead, picked Cali up and left the room. Cali opened one sleepy eye, saw that it was her mother carrying her and promptly went back to sleep. Joss tucked her daughter into her crib in the nursery and the baby didn't even stir.

Joss walked out into the living room to see Finch sitting quietly on one of the stools at the kitchen island. "Finch, what are you still doing here?' she asked in surprise.

"Forgive the intrusion Detective; I just wanted to be sure you didn't need anything before I left for the night."

Joss hugged the billionaire laughing, "You're never intruding, Harold. It was sweet of you to stay so late."

"It was no trouble; you and John are my friends. Detective Fusco called, he said to tell you the mess has been cleaned up."

Joss leaned against the counter and sighed as she rubbed her temples, "At least that mess won't be in my inbox when I go back to work."

Finch smiled. "I think Detective Fusco had his own interests at heart when he volunteered to clean the crime scene."

Joss laughed. "Lionel would rather bury a body or two than write a report. Would you like some tea? I'm still too wound up to sleep."

Finch smiled, he knew he would be unable to sleep as well, and some tea and companionship sounded much better than his dark and lonely apartment. "That would be lovely, Detective."

Joss put the kettle on the stove and got a couple of chamomile tea bags out of the cupboard. In short order the water was hot and she poured it into a couple of mugs, dunked the teas bags in, and gave one to Harold.

Joss settled onto the stool next to the one Harold occupied. "Thank you for what you were willing to do tonight Harold. It means a lot to me."

Harold carefully extracted his tea bag and put it on the small plate Joss had placed on the counter. "I would do anything for your family Jocelyn." He paused and looked Joss straight in the eye. "Anything," he repeated. It was important to him that Joss understood just how important she, John and the children were to him.

"I'm just so glad I have friends like you, and Lionel, and Sam. I don't know what I would have done if I'd lost John." Joss took a sip of her tea in an attempt to gain her composure. Harold waited quietly as she brought herself under control. "You know, when we mated, I told myself that I had to prepare myself to lose him at any time. I knew what I was getting into; I thought I had my eyes wide open.

"I nearly lost him tonight and I realized I'm not prepared, and I probably never will be." She closed her eyes while a tear trickled down her cheek.

Finch pretended not to notice when she swiped her cheek with her wrist. He turned his head and stared at the stove like it was the most interesting thing in the world to give her a chance to recover. Carefully he began to speak.

"When I first recruited Mr. Reese, I thought of him as my employee, nothing more," Finch said softly. "Oh I knew he had amazing skills that could save lives instead of taking them. I knew he had retained his empathy and compassion, but I had no idea just how extraordinary he truly was until he brought, first Lionel and then you into the fold. You have all proven to be brave, loyal, trustworthy people.

"You've all become my friends, my family. I may not have Mr. Reese's skill with weapons and marital arts, but I will do what it takes to protect you all."

Joss nodded, her eyes bright with the tears she was holding back. "We feel the same way about you, Harold."

Harold held up his mug. "Then, if I may be so bold, come what may, I think as long as we are willing to watch out for each other we will be just fine."

Joss tilted her head as she looked at Harold. "John once told me that you expected one or both of you to wind up dead, really dead."

Harold gave a little laugh. "I seem to have regained my optimism since that day."

Joss grinned and tapped her mug to Harold's. "Here's to watching out for each other then."

Harold sipped the last of his tea and stood up. "On that note, if you do not require anything further from me, I think it is time for me to retire for the night."

Joss stood up and walked him to the door. "Good night, Harold."

"Good night Joss. I know you will take good care of him." Harold paused, then gave her one last smile and exited the apartment.

After Harold left, Joss went to the bedroom and crawled into bed next to John who was still sleeping soundly. She didn't snuggle up next to him, afraid she would hurt his cracked ribs, so she lay next to him on her side just staring at him for a while. She reached over and placed her hand on his chest, taking care to avoid his injured ribs. She fell asleep like that, just touching him, feeling his heart beating in his chest.

During the night, John's hand came up and he laid his hand over hers. He looked over at his sleeping mate, it was good to see her so peaceful after the events of the last few days. Then he closed his eyes and went back to sleep, still holding her hand over his heart.

* * *

Shaw had never been afraid of anything before in her life, fear frankly wasn't an emotion she felt thanks to her personality disorder. But today there was a nervous flutter in her stomach and for once she could not devour her breakfast like a starving tiger. She sat at her table in her little kitchenette staring at the plate of sunny side up eggs and bacon, and she was aware the eggs were glaring back at her accusingly. She pushed her plate away and decided that she didn't like feeling guilty.

It had been a few days since she had seen John; she had not seen him since Joss had loaded him into the back of Finch's car and driven away after they had defeated Stanton and her minions. She had called Joss the next day, but had been told politely but firmly that John was in no shape to receive visitors. Shaw had been stewing ever since.

Her phone chirped at her and she picked it up without checking the caller ID, she knew it was just going to say "Caller Unknown" anyway. "Hey Finch."

"Good morning Ms. Shaw. I thought you would like to know that we do not have a new number, so it looks like you have the day off."

"Thanks Finch. Do you happen to know where John is? Is he up and around yet? I need to talk to him about something…"

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I do. He and Taylor picked up Bear a few minutes ago to take him to the park."

"Thanks." Shaw hung up and took a deep breath. It was now or never.

* * *

Shaw found the man in the park easily enough. She watched for several minutes before she approached them. John seemed to have mostly recovered from his ordeal a few days before. He was still favoring his right side, indicating his cracked ribs were not completely healed, his eye was still black and blue and his cut was still not completely healed, but he moved easily. Shaw felt oddly comforted when she saw he had assumed his normal working attire of dark suit and white shirt. He would make a full recovery with no lasting after-effects from his ordeal at Stanton's hands.

John and Taylor were playing Keep Away with Bear, and the dog was barking happily as John and Taylor threw the ball between them. Bear kept lunging at the ball, trying to get it until he finally knocked Taylor on his butt. "Hey no fair!" the teen exclaimed, laughing as Bear vigorously licked his face. John, laughing as well, helped Taylor back up on his feet before he spotted Shaw approaching.

"Morning, Shaw," John looked at her puzzled as to why she looked so glum.

"Hey Sam!" Taylor called out cheerfully as he spotted her.

Sam had to smile a tiny bit at the teen. "Hey, kiddo. I need to talk to John, can you give us a few minutes?"

"No prob. I'll take Bear for a jog around the park. Back soon!" Taylor jogged off down the path followed closely by the Malanois.

"Yes?" John looked at her questioningly as he wiped his hands on a handkerchief.

Shaw, being Shaw, decided to just say it. "John, I have to tell you, I'm the agent who killed Dillinger and let the laptop go." She looked down at her feet. "I'm sorry."

John stuffed the handkerchief back in the pocket of his pants. "Don't be. You have nothing to be sorry for."

Shaw looked up at him in surprise. "What? But you got sent to Ordos instead of saving your girlfriend because of that damn laptop."

"Ex-girlfriend," John corrected as he watched a couple of kids playing Frisbee on the other side of the lawn.

Shaw rolled her eyes. "Whatever. The point is, if I hadn't let that laptop get away from me, you could have saved her and the CIA wouldn't have burned you."

John sighed and looked down at Sam. "No, it was my fault. I ran into Jessica in the airport on my way to my first assignment with the CIA. She told me that if I asked her to wait for me, she would, but I couldn't do it."

Shaw looked at him in surprise. Finch and Fusco had told her how John had nearly drunk himself to death over Jessica. "Why not?"

"I don't know if I can explain it, but it just wasn't the right thing to do. Jessica never accepted me for what I was. She had been too ashamed to tell her mother about us, because I was Wolf. She didn't like military life, she didn't like the fact that I was gone a lot of the time.

"Even if I had been able to save her from Peter, as much I did love her, I still wasn't the right man for her and she wasn't the right woman for me."

John glanced down at Shaw and saw her gaping open-mouthed at him. "I do regret not being able to save her," he said quietly. "I'll have to live with that, but the only person at fault was her husband. Not me, not you."

John, with a smile, nodded towards Taylor as he became visible down the path. "Besides, my life turned out pretty good." He paused, and Shaw waited for him to continue. "I found the person I was supposed to be with after all. I found where I belonged."

* * *

That night, John rolled on his side and lifted himself up on one elbow to look down on the face of his mate as she came down off her orgasm. Her eyes fluttered open and she gave him that dazzling smile that never failed to make his heart beat rapidly. She rolled to face him and reached out to stroke his cheek.

"I missed that while you were recuperating," she purred with contentment.

John smiled back at her tenderly. "I did too." John leaned over to kiss her gently. They settled together in the center of the bed, with Joss's head on John's chest and his arm around her.

Joss fingered the fresh bite on her neck. "You bit me again."

John smiled, "Need that mark fresh so there's no doubt you're taken."

Joss rolled her eyes.

John gently ran a finger down her spine causing her to shiver. "I remember when I walked away from Jessica, when I got back to my outfit; my commanding officer asked me why I looked like I lost my best friend. I told him about Jessica, how I had to leave her behind, and do you know what he said to me?"

Joss raised her head and looked at him. She had never heard this story before so she shook her head.

John continued running his finger up and down her spine as he stared at the ceiling, his eyes far away. "He laid a hand on my shoulder and said 'Someday, you will meet the one who will make you understand why you walked away from this one.'"

John wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly. "You and the kids are everything to me."

Joss kissed him tenderly. "You're everything to us too. Never forget that."

John couldn't reply; all he could do was hold her tight. But Joss understood; she always did.

**THE END**

* * *

Thanks for reading and for all the wonderful reviews. The Wolves will be back, I promise.


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